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Ties with United States at risk of breaking down: Turkey

Jana Hoffman |Monday, February 12, 2018

Turkish forces push into Syria as Afrin offensive enters fourth week

"We will either fix these relations or they will break completely", Mevlut Cavusoglu told reporters in Istanbul on the sidelines of a Turkish-African meeting in Istanbul.

Mr. Cavusoglu demanded concrete steps from the USA, rather than promises. The missing trust needs to be restored.

The two men evaluated regional developments, factors that have damaged relations between the allies and developing ways of combating terrorism, a Turkish presidential source said, but provided no further details. Ankara recognizes these organizations as terrorist.

Turkey has threatened to target Manbij, another Syrian town held by the YPG, in its next move, but the United States has refused to withdraw its troops from the town as demanded by Ankara, heightening the risk of a direct confrontation between the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation allies.

On the Turkish side, the YPG statement said their forces killed 15 Turkish soldiers and 21 militants of the Turkish-backed Syrian rebels at the Raju front, west of Afrin.

Damascus has firmly condemned the operation as an assault on Syria's sovereignty and urged all the parties to exercise restraint and called for respect of Syria's territorial integrity.

The military also said the "utmost care" is being used to avoid harming civilians.

US Defense Secretary James Mattis has acknowledged that some members of the PYD/PKK-led SDF had shifted to Afrin, Syria amid Turkey's ongoing operation against the groups in the border region, according to Anadolu news agency.

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